Fodder-cutter.



No. 771,047. PATENTED SEPT, 27, 1904. J. DICK. FODDER CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1903.

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No. 771,047. PATENTED SEPT. 2'7, 1904. J. DICK. FODDBR CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED N016, 1903.

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N 771,047. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904. J. DICK 'FODDER CUTTER.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 5, 1903 N0 MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

No.7'71,047. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

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'FODDBR CUTTER.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 5, 1903.

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WITNESS ES mvc -10 R MW 1 BY ATTORNEY UNITED STATES Patented September27, 1904.,

PATENT OFFICE.

FODDER-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 771,047, datedSeptember 27, 1904,

Application filed November 5, 1903. Serial No. 179,924- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH DICK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fodder-Cutters, of whichthe following is a specification.

The invention relates to certain features in the construction of thecasing, the shielding of the main shaft and bearing, the attachment ofthe knife-blades, the adjustment of the feedroller and conveyer-shaftbearings, the tightening of the feed-roller sprocket-gear, and thehinging of the feed-trough in a foddercutter; and the objects of theimprovements are to make the construction and manipulation of themachine more practical, effective, and convenient.

These objects are attained by the construction, arrangement, andmechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 isa rear left side perspective view of the fodder-cutter, showing thegeneral relation of the parts; Fig. 2, a plan view showing thefeed-trough hinges; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section showing one hinge andthe conveyer-belt; Fig. 4, an enlarged perspective view showing onehinge; Fig. 5, a detached perspective view of the parts of the hinge;

Fig. 6, an under perspective view showing the casing trap-door; Fig. 7 afragmentary view showing the manner of operating the trap-door; Fig. 8,a right side elevation of the fodder-cutter, showing some parts inlongitudinal section; Fig. 9, a longitudinal section on line 9 9, Fig.8, showing the lower feedroller, conveyer,and transverse counter-shaftsand bearings; Fig. 10, a detached perspective View illustrating theadjustable bearings; Fig. 11, a detached perspective view illustratingthe knife-blade-adjusting cam faces and racks; Fig. 12, a detachedperspective view showing a knife blade attached on the knifedisk; Fig.13, a sectional view illustrating the attachment of a knife-blade on thedisk; Fig. 1 1, a sectional view illustrating the main shaft andbearing-shield; Fig. 15, a perspective view illustrating the joining ofthe side plates, peripheral plates, and peripheral rods of the casing;Fig. 16, a cross-section of the same; Fig. 17, a side view of the same;Fig. 18, a sectional view showing the joining of the peripheral plates;and Fig. 19, a vertical section on the middle line of the hopper andtrough, showing the feed-rollers and cutterbar and knife-blade incross-section.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The casing is formed of the separate circular side plates 1 and 1 and aseries of interchangeable peripheral plates 2, 2, 2 2, and 2, whichperipheral plates are each provided with the grooves 3 on their concaveface near the side edges, which grooves are adapted to receive the edges4 of the side plates and to form a neat joint therewith. and edges arepreferably formed V-shaped, the edges being truncated, as illustrated,which form insures a tight fit of the joint. On the convex faces of theperipheral plates and near the side edges are provided the grooves 5,

which are preferably rounded, and these grooves form a channel on eachside adapted to receive and retain the peripheral rods 6, which rodsbind the various plates of the easing together. The peripheral rods arepreferably fastened and adjusted by the turnbuckles 7, and eachperipheral plate is preferably provided with a lip, as 8, on one end,which overlaps the adjoining end of the next plate, and the lugs 9 and10 are also preferably provided on the sides of the rounded grooves tomore securely retain the peripheral rods.

The neck or spout 11 is formed in the peripheral plate 2 to which spoutis joined the discharge-pipe 12, and the angle of this spout is readilyvaried at will by changing one or more of the ordinary peripheral plates2 to be above or below the spout-plate, and the trapdoor 13 is providedin the peripheral plate 2, preferably located on the lower sideof thecasing, which trap-door operates on the hingepivot 14, having thecrank-arm 15. At a convenient place on the side of the casing is pivotedthe hand-lever 16 with the locking-arm 17 The connecting-link 18 has itsends pivoted to the crank and locking-arms, and these parts are soproportioned and arranged that These grooves the trap-door is tightlyshut when the hand-lever is rotated to bring the link in line with thelever-pivot, as shown by broken lines in Fig. 7, after which the door islocked by turning the lever a little farther to carry the link past thedead-center. It will be understood that the locking-arm can be omittedand the link pivoted directly to the hand-lever or an extension thereof,according to the relative location of the door and hand-lever; but Iprefer the construction illustrated when the parts are located as shown.The hand-hole door 19 is provided in the peripheral plate 2, preferablylocated on the upper side of the casing, which door is held in place bya suitable fastening, as 20. This construction and these devices greatlyfacilitate the assembling of the parts of the casing and of themechanism within it and also the renewal or repair of the same and thesubstitution for a broken part of a relatively small piece, and variousarrangements of the interchangeable peripheral plates can be readilymade to accommodate varying conditions and uses.

The main shaft 21 is journaled in the bearings 22 and 22, which areattached to the side plates, and on this shaft inside the casing issecurely mounted the knife-disk or flywheel 23, preferably by means ofthe hub 24. To prevent the fodder or cuttings from winding around theshaft or binding in the rear bearing, the forward side of this bearingis provided with the bell-shaped extension 25, which freely surroundsthe disk-hub and ter- Ininates in the external rim-flange 26, and on theknife-disk is provided the flange-collar 27, which fits closely over therim-flange of the bearing extension and completely shields the shaft andthe bearing. The knife-blades 28 are attached on the knife by means ofthe intervening tube-posts 29 and the main bolts 30, and the blades areadjusted to the cutterbar 31, which has a fixed position, by means ofthe segmental cam-racks 32, which are pivoted on the posts against theknife-disk. The hubs of the cam-racks are provided with the cam-faces33, and on the bases of the tubeposts are provided the correspondingcamfaces 34 and the arms 35, having the segmental racks 36, adapted tomesh with the adjustingracks 32. The tubular bosses 37 are formed in thepost-arms, in which bosses are entered the subbolts 38, each of whichextends through an aperture, as 39, in the knife-disk, by means of whichsubbolts the tube posts are held against rotationand the posts and theadjusting-racks are held in proper place on the knife-disk in event themain bolts are withdrawn and the knife blades removed for sharpening orother purposes.

The hopper 40 is formed or attached on the rear side plate 1, in thesides of which hopper are mounted the bearings 41 for the lowerfeed-roller shaft 42 and the bearings 43 for the conveyer-shaft 44.Motion is imparted to these shafts from the main shaft by means of thegear 45, the longitudinal counter-shaft 46, the reversible bevel-gear47, the transverse counter-shaft 48, and the sprocket-gears 49 and 50,which shafts and gears are suitably mounted on the sides of the hopper.The tubular body part of the roller-shaft and conveyershaft bearings arelocated in the horizontallyelongated slots 51 in the sides of thehopper, in which slots the bearings can be moved horizontally but notvertically. The eccentric disks 52 are formed or attached on thebearings and fit against the sides of the hopper between and in contactwith the vertical lugs or flanges 53 and 53, formed on the hopper sides,and the outer ends 54 of the bearings are preferably formed angular, bymeans of which the bearings can be rotated by an ordinary wrench. Thebosses 55 are formed near the edge on the faces of the eccentric disks,and the spring or button 56 is attached on the hopper side, the ends ofwhich button are normally located in the notches 57 in the lugs 53 andare entered between the disk bosses, whereby the bearings are heldagainst rotation. To adjust a bearing endwise, it is only necessary todisengage the button from the disk-bosses and to rotate the bearing,where by the body of the bearing is moved one way or another in theelongated slot by means of the rotation of the disk between the fixedvertical lugs or flanges, after which the bearing can be locked in theadjusted position by reengaging the button between the disk-bosses. Bythus adjusting the knife-blades to the cutter-bar on one side and thelower feed-roller 42 to the cutter-bar on the other side the cutter-barcan be rigidly attached in the machine instead of fixing the feed-rollertherein and then adjusting the cutter-bar to the feed-roller and thenadjusting the knife-blades to the cutter bar, which has been thepractice heretofore.

The idle wheels 58 are adjustably mounted in the slotted apertures 59 inthe arms of the T-bracket 60, the stem of which bracket is pivoted onthe end of the feed-roller shaft. By adjusting these wheels so as tobear against the outer sides of the chain of the sprocketgear 49 and totake up the looseness or slack therein these wheels act astightening-idlers whichever way the machine is being operated. In thisaction that section of the chain which is transmitting the power isdrawn straight, carrying with it the contiguous wheel, whereby theopposite wheel is drawn in and tightens the loose section of the chain,as shown by full and broken lines in Fig. 8. The need of these idlewheels arises from the adjustment of the feed-roller to the cutterbar,which gives the roller a varying position with reference to thetransverse counter-shaft.

The hinge-plates 61 are attached or formed on the rear ends of thehopper-bottom, and

these plates are each provided with the rearward-extending dependingears 62 and 63, which ears are preferably located one flush with theside and the other at an interval therefrom and also at an interval fromthe other side of the plate. The lower ends of these cars are connectedby the transverse journalbar 64, and the upper edges are curvedconcentric with this bar. The companion hingeplates 65 are attached or'formed on the forward end 'of the trough-bottom, and these plates areprovided with the forward-extending tongues 66 and 67, which are locatedto correspond with the intervals at the sides of the ears of thehopper-plates. The depending ear 68 is formed on the tongue 66, and atthe lower edge of this ear is formed the transverse bearing 69, which isadapted to rotate on the journal-bar 64 of the hopper-plate, and thetrough-plate tongues are curved concentric with the transverse bearingand the parts so proportioned that when the bearing is placed on thejournal-bar the tongues of the trough-plate will pass under the adjacentedges of the hopper-plate. The engagement of the hinge-plates is made bydepressing the rear end of the trough so as to bring its hingeplate inthe relation to the hopper-plate as shown in Fig. 5, and after theengagement is made the rear end of the trough is raised to its normalposition for use, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, in which position the hingeis locked by the passing of the trough-plate tongues under the body ofthe hopper-plates, as shown especially in Fig. 4:. The hinge-plates asthus engaged form a suitable surface on which to carry the conveyersprocket-chains 70, as shown especially .in Fig. 19. To disengage thehinges, these steps are merely reversed.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. .A fodder-cutter casing comprising separate circular side plates, aseries of interchangeable peripheral plates, and adjustable peripheralrods, the peripheral plates having grooves on their inner sides adaptedto receive the edges of the side plates, and grooves'on 'their outersides adapted to receive the peripheral rods.

2. A fodder-cutter casing comprising separate circular plates, aseriesof interchangeable peripheral plates, and adjustable peripheral rods,one of the peripheral plates being formed as an outlet-spout, and allhaving grooves on their inner sides adapted to receive the edges of theside plates, and grooves on their outer sides adapted to receive theperipheral rods.

3. A fodder-cutter casing comprising separate circular plates, a seriesof interchangeable peripheral plates, and adjustable peripheral rods,one of the peripheral plates having 'a door therein, and all havinggrooves ontheir inner sides adapted to receive the edges of the sideplates, and grooves on their outer sides adapted to receive theperipheral rods.

4. A fodder-cutter casing comprising separate circular side plates, aseries of inter-' changeable peripheral plates, and adjustableperipheral rods, one end of each peripheral plate having a lip thereonadapted to lap over the adjoining edge of the next plate.

an external rim-flange entered in the disk-collar and neatly fitting theinside thereof.

6. In a fodder-cutter, the combination of a knife-disk, with an adjacentknife-blade, intervening tube-posts, with main bolts connecting theseparts together, adjusting camracks pivoted on the post, arms on theposts having corresponding rack-segments, and subbolts connecting thepost-arms with the knifedisk.

7. In a fodder-cutter, the combination of a side plate having ahorizontal slot therein, with a bearing having a tubular body entered inthe slot, an eccentric disk on the bearing adjoining the plate, therebeing bosses on the face near the edge of the disk, vertical flanges onthe plate in contact with the side edges of the disk, and a fixedbuttonon the plate entered between the disk-bosses.

8. In a fodder-cutter, the combination of a side plate having ahorizontal slot therein, with a bearing having a tubular body entered inthe slot, an eccentric disk on the bearing adjoining the plate, andvertical flanges on the plate in contact with the side edges of thedisk.

9. In a fodder-cutter, a trough-hinge comprising a hopper-plate havingadjacent ears extending and. depending from its free edge, there being atransverse journal-bar connecting the lower ends of the ears and theupper edges thereof being curved concentric with the bar, a trough-platehaving adjacent tongues extending from its free edge, there being adepending transverse bearing on one tongue adapted to enter between theears of the hopper-plate and to rotate on the journal-bar, the tonguesbeing curved concentric with the bearing and being adapted to pass underthe free edge of the hopper-plate, and a conveyer sprocket-chain adaptedto travel on the hopper and trough plates.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH DICK. Witnesses:

HARRY FREAsE, JOSEPH FR EASE.

